Table game apparatus



Oct. 2, 1962 H. s. ALPER TABLE GAME APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 15, 1953 Inventor Attorney Oct. 2, 1962 H. s. ALPER TABLE GAME APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 15, 1953 'nite States 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-85) The present invention relates to an improved game and is particularly, although not exclusively, useful for playing miniature games such as football or ice-hockey on a table.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 386,299, filed October 15, 1953, entitled An Improved Table Game, now abandoned.

Most table games which consist of an attempt to copy a real ball game such as football cannot be played as continuously as the real game and in this respect lack verisimilitude. Accordingly it is one object of this invention to provide a table game in which a ball is kicked or hit by a plurality of counters with the minimum of interruptions.

Another object is to provide a game of this kind in which several counters can be moved simultaneously in a manner similar to the real game so that in this respect also the table game becomes a closer copy of the real game. 7

Yet another object is to enable the players of one side to be able to manipulate the counters of his own team without being able to manipulate those of the opposing team.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of it.

Preferred forms of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a table game suitable for playing a miniature game of soccer,

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line II--II of FIG- URE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the game shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is an elevation of one of the counters and the ball used-on the table,

FIGURE 5 is a plan of one of the magnets and handles used for moving the counters,

FIGURE 6 is an elevation of the same magnet and showing also a portion of the table and a counter,

FIGURES 7 and 8 are respectively a plan and elevation of a magnet pivotably mounted on a handle, and

FIGURES 9, l0 and 11 illustrate three ways of selectively magnetising the counters and handles.

In FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 is illustrated a table on which can be played a miniature game of soccer. The table consists of a thin board 20 of non-magnetic material such as a synthetic resin and preferably not more than one-eighth of an inch thick, one-twentieth of an inch being suitable. The upper surface of the board is marked similarly to a full size soccer pitch, but reduced to the appropriate scale, and at the positions which football players might occupy at kick-oil the board is formed with small perforations 21 which are used to assist players not familiar with the game of soccer.

The board 20 is framed with a surround 22 which prevents the ball from easily rolling off the table. As shown in FIGURE 2 the periphery of the board 20 may extend between upper and lower framing strips 22 and 23 respectively, the lower one being very thin for a purpose which Will be mentioned later.

The end members of the upper framed strip 22 are bored transversely to receive the horizontal members 24 and 25 respectively of goals 26 and 27, each of which atent f 3,d56,fi05 Patented Oct. 2, 1962 "ice is formed by bending a single strip of metal to the shape shown.

Since in play the ball can bounce in and out of the goal rather quickly, that portion of the board beneath each goal is formed with perforations which tend to make the ball drag as soon as it enters the goal.

As in normal soccer the table game is played with a single ball such as that shown at 28 and with twentytwo counters such as those shown at 29, each of which is in the form of a figure of a player mounted on a base 30. The figure portion may be of thin sheet plastic cut to the outline of a player and painted appropriately.

On the circular bottom of each counter is secured a thin plate 31 of either material such as soft iron in which magnetism can be induced temporarily or a permanent magnet with one pole ending in the undersurface of the base.

The ball 28 may be of the nature of a table tennis ball but is usually smaller and of a size to correspond with the size of the counters, a suitable proportion being indicated in FIGURE 4.

In the case where the counters bear soft iron plates 31, they are moved about the surface of the board with the aid of permanent magnets such as those shown at 32 in FIGURES 5 and 6. Each magnet has one pole ending in its upper face, and is secured to a handle 33 the major axis of which is at an acute angle with the poleface, so that when the poleface is placed flat against the underface of the board 20, as shown in FIGURE 6, the handle 33 slopes downwardly away from the board 20. The lower framing strip 23 (FIGURE 2) is made thin so that the handles do not foul it during play.

In FIGURES 7 and 8 is shown a magnet 34 mounted on a wooden base 35 which is pivoted on a cradle 36 secured to a handle 37. With this device the magnet can be held with its upper pole-face 34A fiat against the underside of the board 20 whilst the handle is pivoted to any desired angle with respect to the board.

The positions of the magnets and soft iron plates may be arranged in a variety of ways, three of which are shown in FIGURES 9, l0 and 11 respectively.

In each case there are two sets of counters A and B, say eleven representing one team A and eleven representing the other team B, one counter of each team being shown in these figures. There are also two sets of handles A and B say three in each set.

As illustrated in FIGURE 9, one set of counters A each has a permanent magnet in its base with the N pole ending in the undersurface, each of the counters B of the other team has a permanent magnet with the S pole ending in the underface, one set of handles A each has a permanent magnet with the S pole ending in its upper surface and, finally, the other set of handles B each carries a permanent magnet with the N pole ending in the upper surface.

It will be seen that with this arrangement any of the handles A can be used to attract any of the counters A, but cannot be used to attract any of the counters of team B, whilst conversely the handles B can be used to attract counters B only. The lines of force run from north to south poles and thence pass through the board in opposite directions, as shown by the arrows.

As illustrated in FIGURE 10 each of the counters A carries a permanent magnet in its base with the north pole ending in the undersurface of the counter and each of the handles A used for manipulating the counters A carries at its end a piece of unmagnetised soft iron I, so that whenever handle A is manipulated to bring the soft iron beneath one of the counters A, the soft iron is attracted by the magnet in the counter and the counter can be moved over the table. Each of the other set of counters B has a piece of soft iron or like material in its base and each of the handles B carries at its end a magnet having the north pole ending in the upper surface. By this means the handles B can be used to manipulate the counters B over the table but cannot be used to manipulate counters A, whilst the handles A cannot be used to manipulate the counters B. As in the previous case the lines of force run in opposite directions through the board.

FIGURE 11 illustrates a somewhat similar arrangement except that the magnets have their south poles adjacent the board. Here, again, the magnetic lines of force run in opposite directions through the board.

A game of soccer is played in the following way:

Counters 29 are placed, at the commencement of play, at positions conforming to the rules governing kick-off with a ball at the centre spot.

The game is played by one, two, three or even more players on each side. In the case where there are three on each side one member is usually appointed to manip- -ulate the goalkeeper and perhaps the two full-backs,

whilst the other two players would stand or sit on either side of the first mentioned player and would control the remaining counters of one team, which will be called team A. The three players of the other side would be similarly disposed with respect to team B. The person conrtolling a goalkeeper is preferably provided with short handled magnets whilst the other two members of each team would use longer handled magnets.

It is assumed that the counters and handles are provided with magnets as in the arrangement of FIGURE 9.

The game is played according to rules very similar to those of ordinary soccer. The winner of the toss has choice of ends or kick-off and if he chooses the kick-oif this is done by placing a handled magnet under the table with its pole-face in contact with the table and sliding it about until the magnet picks up his own centre forward, whereupon the magnet is moved in such direction that it carries the centre-forward against the ball so as to pass the ball forwardly and towards one of his own inside forwards for example. Thereafter all the players can manipulate their handled magnets simultaneously so as to move the counters in any way they please, in accordance with the rules, the basic idea being to propel a counter against the ball so as to project the ball ultimately into the opponents goal, but to this end all the passing movements and strategy of ordinary soccer can be used on a miniature scale. The oif-side rule is used without change. The handling rule may be employed if desired and a penalty may be awarded if a member of one team picks up an opponents counter in the penalty area.

In manipulating the counters with the aid of the handled magnets shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 the polefaces should be kept flat against the underside of the board 20; if a handle is tipped up or down so that flat contact is lost the counter is no longer attracted to the handled magnet and control of that particular counter is lost. In one way this adds to the interest of the game, but if it be desired to eliminate or reduce this feature of the game, magnets of the kind shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 may be used in place of those shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. Referring to FIGURES 7 and 8, it will be seen that even when the handle 37 is tilted up and down with respect to the undersurface of the board the magnet 34 can be maintained in fiat contact with the board so that control of a counter is retained more easily with the device of FIGURES 7 and 8 than with that of FIGURES 5 and 6.

With the shape of counter and ball shown in FIGURE 5 it is possible, although comparatively difiicult, to propel the ball into the air thus adding to the life-like nature of the game.

The counters and ball are very light in weight so that the board may be made extremely thin, its main requirements being that it should be rigid enough to prevent any appreciable sag under its own weight. It should be of nonmagnetic material and both surfaces should be smooth.

Other games than soccer may be played by malc'ng appropriate changes to the marking of the fields, the number of players and the shape of the ball. Ice hockey is a game which may be played with great advantage, the ball then being replaced by a smooth-faced puck.

Rugby football, cricket and hockey may be quoted as other examples of games which may be played in accordance with this invention.

What I claim is:

A game apparatus comprising in combination a nonmagnetic game board, two sets of players movable on the upper surface of said board, one of said sets adapted to carry unmagnetized magnetic material therein adjacent said board, the other of said sets adapted to carry substantially vertically disposed magnets with a common pole adjacent said board, a playing piece movable on the upper surface of said board upon being propelled by one of said players, and a set of elongated manipulators movable on the lower surface of said board, one of said manipulators adapted to carry unmagnetized magnetic material at one end thereof, the other of said manipulators adapted to carry a substantially vertically disposed magnet with a pole adjacent the lower surface of said board which is of the same polarity as that of the magnetic polarity of the second mentioned of said set of players whereby only positive attraction is achieved between the one of said sets of players incorporating a magnet and its associated manipulator carrying unmagnetized magnetic material, and the other of said sets of players incorporating unmagnetized magnetic material and its associated manipulators carrying a magnet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,463,795 Neuzerling Mar. 8, 1949 2,528,938 Wolf Nov. 7, 1950 2,716,028 Yaeger Aug. 23, 1955 

